With regard to the exchange of
prisoners in accordance with the agreement, we succeeded in securing
the release of our people who had been captured during the war.
Maj Nguyen Thi Dung, a member of our military delegation, was
responsible for the POW exchange. She was very active and aggressive,
visiting all of the puppet prisons, from Bien Hoa to Con Dao and
Phu Quoc. She was the only female member of the four military
delegations, spoke French and English fluently, was attractive
and polite, and struggled resolutely, which won the respect of
the Americans and puppets. We were proud of her. She worked at
disseminating the articles of the agreement regarding the exchange
of POW's to our men who were still imprisoned, struggled for the
improvement of prison conditions, and demanded the return of those
who were still detained. The enemy did not return everyone and
were not sincere, but we were able to liberate a considerable
number of our cadres and men, people who had fought heroically
but had fallen into the hands of the enemy and had been subjected
to their barbarous treatment.

We returned all American and puppet
POW's we were detaining.

But another important matter was
that in the course of the 60 days of face-to-face meetings with
the enemy we gained better understanding of them. The Americans
were only interested in obtaining the release of their POW's as
a gift to the American people, and in bringing the U.S. troops
home, as demanded by the American people. Otherwise, they continued
to implement their policy of Vietnamizing the war so that they
could remain in Vietnam.

. . . .

I informed Woodward that because
our communications were difficult I had only just received a delayed
message that there was one additional American POW our forces
were holding in Tra Vinh Province. In order to express our good
will and correctly implement the Paris Agreement, we wanted to
turn him over to the Americans. On the following day the two sides
would assign cadres to carry out the turning over of that last
American POW. I said that personally I regarded that as a friendship
gift to the lieutenant general to commemorate the 60 days we worked
together on the Four-Party Joint Military Commission (my intention
was to suggest that because of that Woodward would be commended
and promoted).

Woodward was openly very pleased,
thanked me profusely and, in order to express his gratitude, inquired
about my health and asked if I had any plans for the future.

It was a question that was asked
at the right place and at the right time. That was all I could
hope for. I replied that I planned to take a trip to Hanoi and,
along the way, visit Laos. Woodward and Wickham thought that I
intended to help resolve the question of American and puppet POW's
in Laos, but could not say so. Woodward appeared to be very anxious
and asked, "When do you plan to go?" "I'll go tomorrow
if you'll provide the means." He replied, "You will
have the means. I'll arrange for a C130 flight to Hanoi tomorrow
morning."

I expressed my gratitude and reminded
him that on the following morning one of our officers would meet
with the American officer to arrange the turning over of the POW
at Tra Vinh. He thanked me and asked me whether the C130 should
wait to bring me back. If not, how would I return? (The U.S. delegation
would cease operations and return to the United States on 31 March.
After that date it would be necessary to use a puppet facility.)

I smiled and said that I might
return to saigon by way of Paris, so that I could visit another
famous European capital (Woodward thought that I needed to meet
with our delegation to Paris).

Woodward was very pleased, said
that that was a good idea, and said goodbye. He did not forget
to affirm that an airplane would be available on the following
morning.

On the morning of 30 [March] 1973
the puppet officer who brought a convoy of sedans to pick me up
at my residence and take me to the ramp of the airplane was very
deferential. Accompanying me to the airfield to see me off to
Hanoi were Maj Gen Le Quang Hoa, Major General Woodward, head
of the U.S. delegation and his wife. I warmly shook hands with
and said goodbye to everyone. The warm, affectionate, and extremely
moving handshakes secretly signified a victory and the sympathetic
handshakes secretly expressed mutual gratitude. Woodward wished
me a safe journey and good luck, and said that he would send an
airplane to Hanoi to bring me back, even though I had not requested
him to do so. I wished Mr. and Mrs. Woodward good fortune, stepped
aboard the airplane, and waved to everyone. Thus aboard the American
C130 (the Americans were courteous enough to provide a seat for
me in the cockpit) I, Lt. Col Nguyen Quang Minh (a research cadre
with the Joint Commission), Dr. Le Hoai Liem, the interpreter
Dung, the bodyguard Hoa, and a number of other cadres, would fly
from from saigon to Hanoi, thus ending 60 days of very seething
and tense activity in the bosom of the enemy.

Sitting aboard the airplane and
for the first time flying the length of the country, from Saigon
to Hanoi, I felt disturbed and moved. There it was, a country
that had existed 4,000 years and had been built by the blood and
sweat of countless generations, in the past and in the present.
The fresh green villages, the endless mountains and jungles, the
long coastline with white sand beaches, and the immense blue continental
shelf were truly a phantasmagoria. The gentle rays of the bright
March sky embellished the scene with marvelous, sparkling colors.
It was very beautiful, that homeland of ours. Also very beautiful
were the heroism, intelligence, creativity, and persistent labor,
generation after generation, of the millions of Vietnamese who
built the beautiful country of today. I was very grateful for
my ancestors and suddenly I remembered Uncle Ho and what he once
told our troops in the Hung Temple on the side of Mt. Nghia: "The
Hung kings achieved merit by founding the nation; you and I must
work together to preserve it."

The words of Uncle Ho have been
deeply engraved in the hearts of the Vietnamese people. No enemy,
even the chief imperialists from across the Pacific or the shameless
expansionists from the north, will be smashed to smithereens and
be chased out of our country. L Chief Thong in the past, and Nguyen
Van Thieu in the present, will live in infamy. Our homeland was
certain to be independent, free and unified by any means.

The airplane was flying over the
Red River Delta! Hanoi - our beloved capital and the heart of
the homeland. I had lived in Hanoi for a long time and had worked
there. Several times I had left it and returned. But this time
was somehow different: I was strangely excited and moved, as if
I were a child who had been far away for a long time wrestling
with the difficulties and dangers of life and now was suddenly
able to return to my warm home and be with my sweet, beloved mother.
I was home: the child had returned to his sweet mother, so that
he could again prepare to set out on another distant journey completely
different from the one he had just taken.

Three days later a C130 from Saigon
landed at Gia Lam airfield to pick me up - just as Woodward had
promised. I sent Lt. Col. Nguyen Quang Minh to inform the American
officer commanding the airplane that I was not yet able to leave.
Comrade Minh wrote a notice stating that Lt. Gen. Tran Van Tra
was busy and could not leave, and authorizing the airplane to
return to Tan Son Nhat without having to return to Hanoi at a
later date to pick him up. He did not forget to express my thanks.

In my extreme happiness over being
able to return to our beloved capital, and with a feeling of freedom
and relaxation from being with my friends, comrades and compatriots,
I thought fondly of my comrades who were still at Tan Son Nhat.
Because of a mission that was indispensable in the present phase
of the struggle, those comrades had to live and work in a tense
atmosphere while surrounded by the enemy, for how long no one
knew. In the future, what would happen to those comrades at the
hands of the obstinate and insidious enemy? I calmed myself by
thinking that those of us in the liberated area must go all-out
and cooperate closely with those comrades in order to win victory
for the revolution. It was certain that those comrades would not
be isolated, for they had us and the people, even in Saigon. One
day we would meet again to celebrate the victory.